Consilient: the concurrence of multiple inductions drawn from different data sets.
Induction: the process of deriving general principles from particular facts or instances.
Concurrence: agreement.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Seven Types of Americans

As I see it, there are seven types of Americans:

Type 1 are the hegemonies – those that want to exert an ideological or economic influence over other countries and will pay any cost – other than from themselves – to see it happen.

Type 2 are the theocrats – those that want the US to adhere to a fundamentalist Christian dogma in leading and running the country – interpreting passages in the Bible to suit their needs and beliefs.

Type 3 are the capitalists – those that believe that money is the key to everything good and see no moral ambiguity in anything they do as long as it is good for business.

Type 4 are the freeloaders – those that have grown accustomed to somebody else, primarily the government, being responsible for their welfare.

Type 5 are the apathetic – those that do little to make things better and get in the way of those that want to make a change.

Type 6 are the extremes – those that believe in a cause to such an extent that the end will always justify the means. I place in here the Anarchists, ELF, PETA, and the NRA to name a few.

Type 7 encompasses all the rest.

Most of us lean into one or more of the types identified above, but in the end we balance pretty much into a Type 7. The problem, as I see it, is that we have some folks that fall squarely into one of the other six types. What's the problem? These Type 1-6 people vote and each party will cater to one of them if it increases their chance at getting elected. As long as the elected party ignores them they can’t do much damage, but, in large numbers they often start demanding a voice for delivery of their vote.

The choice for me this November is which candidate is least likely to allow any of these groups to influence the America that the Type 7s want to live in.